WACO - The Baylor softball team (39-15) will hit the road to begin its NCAA Championship quest, traveling to the College Station Regional beginning on Friday, May 17 with a match-up against Arizona (32-24) at 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2. Overall 16-seed Texas A&M (39-15) will host Penn (30-18) at 5:00 p.m.

"What a big-time NCAA Regional this is going to be," head coach Glenn Mooresaid. "This is a great opportunity for our fans to come watch and we encourage them to buy up tickets."

The Lady Bears, who earned an at-large bid to the championship, enter the regional after finishing third in the Big 12 Conference. Arizona, seeded third in the regional, finished seventh in the Pac-12 standings. This will mark the second-straight season Baylor has opened with a Pac-12 school, after facing Stanford to open the 2012 Regional in Lafayette.

"Arizona has been playing its best ball of the season as of late and they are one of the most respected names in all of softball," Moore said. "We have to be ready to play from the first pitch and I think we will be."

Texas A&M, which earned an at-large bid, will be the one seed after placing ninth in the SEC. Penn enters the regional as the fourth seed after capturing the Ivy League South Division and conference tournament titles.

The College Station regional is paired with the Norman, Okla. regional as the winners of the two regionals will square off in a best-of-three series to determine who advances to the NCAA Women's College World Series.

The selection for the Lady Bears marks the third-straight season and eighth time in the last 10 years the team has been picked for the NCAA Softball Championship.

To purchase tickets, log on to www.aggieathletics.com.

Please check baylorbears.com for more information as it becomes available.